Organization, Prioritizing, and Selecting Which Types of Writing

[JAM2b]

Hi

I have had a hobby of writing since I was in Jr. High school. I am both creative and also value accuracy, authenticity, and genuiness.

Im a word nerd and have subscribed to dictionary.com's "Word of the Day' emails. I also believe their still needs to be a comma before the word "and" when listing more than two items.

I enjoy both reading and writing a great deal. I have dabbled in blogging, creative nonfiction, fiction, essays, skit writting, devotional/inspirational writing, testimonials, memoir (ick), etc.

I would really love to become a published author and turn this hobby into my main source of income, partly because of physical health concerns making it difficult to work my job at times, and partly because I want more flexibility as a single mom for the sake of my kids.

One time I almost had a children's book published, but the publisher was brand new, not doing well, and gave up on the business before getting my book in print. I was devastated.

Currently I have several stories in the works; I usually do. They are all fiction. Some are for children, some young adults, primarily aimed women.

I have also spent years working on writing about my personal childhood and overcoming trauma presented as a work of fiction. It is very hard for me to write about it. I only manage to work on it in very small amounts at a time with extremely long breaks in between because if the emotional toll and uncertainty of how to flow through the story. One of the problems is passage of time as I grew up. Another problem is creating plot in what is actually just a series of events that eventually lead to a positive outcome well into adulthood. Which leads me to believe I should stop what I'm doing and write it as a memoir, but I don't like memoirs when they are written by anyone under the age 55-60 years old.

For all of my works, I have them separated into folders in various states of progress. I've included visual creativity stimulators like pictures, magazine clippings, and sketches to inspire further thoughts.

I struggle with how to choose which one to work on. Should I focus on completing one at a time? If so, how do choose which to do first? Should I continue working on them as thoughts and creativity flows at random for each one?

 

[GuyNad]

Hi

I have had a hobby of writing since I was in Jr. High school. I am both creative and also value accuracy, authenticity, and genuiness.

Im a word nerd and have subscribed to dictionary.com's "Word of the Day' emails. I also believe their still needs to be a comma before the word "and" when listing more than two items.

I enjoy both reading and writing a great deal. I have dabbled in blogging, creative nonfiction, fiction, essays, skit writting, devotional/inspirational writing, testimonials, memoir (ick), etc.

I would really love to become a published author and turn this hobby into my main source of income, partly because of physical health concerns making it difficult to work my job at times, and partly because I want more flexibility as a single mom for the sake of my kids.

One time I almost had a children's book published, but the publisher was brand new, not doing well, and gave up on the business before getting my book in print. I was devastated.

Currently I have several stories in the works; I usually do. They are all fiction. Some are for children, some young adults, primarily aimed women.

I have also spent years working on writing about my personal childhood and overcoming trauma presented as a work of fiction. It is very hard for me to write about it. I only manage to work on it in very small amounts at a time with extremely long breaks in between because if the emotional toll and uncertainty of how to flow through the story. One of the problems is passage of time as I grew up. Another problem is creating plot in what is actually just a series of events that eventually lead to a positive outcome well into adulthood. Which leads me to believe I should stop what I'm doing and write it as a memoir, but I don't like memoirs when they are written by anyone under the age 55-60 years old.

For all of my works, I have them separated into folders in various states of progress. I've included visual creativity stimulators like pictures, magazine clippings, and sketches to inspire further thoughts.

I struggle with how to choose which one to work on. Should I focus on completing one at a time? If so, how do choose which to do first? Should I continue working on them as thoughts and creativity flows at random for each one?

Very interesting. I like to write since a little bit after highschool -- not that I consider myself really good at it --- and recently I was looking for some ways to earn money online from blogging or making websites and it imply a lot of writing.... But the only subject I am PASSIONATE about writing seem to be writings on spiritual stuff which doesn't look very profitable... Don't give your dream!

 

[euripetelynn]

I don't think there's any right answer to your question. I suspect it's probably a good idea to try and focus on one thing (after all, you can't make money off things that aren't complete). That said, as you've mentioned, sometimes this is easier said than done. Sometimes it's best to take a break and switch to a different project for a time.

So I'd probably try to focus on one thing, but would be open for breaks when my brain/emotions just can't handle it any more.

As for which one to focus on...I guess there's a few ways of choosing. You could go with the one that's most likely to make you money, or you could go with the one that you're most passionate about. If you want to make a living, I'd probably go for the former.

As for you fictional memoir - I'd encourage you to seriously consider turning it into a memoir. I had the same reaction as you - it seemed weird to write a memoir if you haven't lived life long enough. But I think there can be a lot of value in younger people writing them too, partly because you have a different perspective now than you will when you're older. And if you have important things to say, why wait until you're older? It's good to get them out.

Also, I think non-fiction can often be a lot more powerful than fiction. Unless a story doesn't make sense as non-fiction, why turn it into fiction? When we know something actually happened to someone, we can often learn a lot more from it. Also non-fiction gives you more license to include random details that you couldn't get away with in fiction (because fiction should be more or less logical, but reality is stranger than fiction).

But if you do keep it as a fiction, remember that not all successful books have clear plots (e.g. Infinite Jest, in some ways, is just a series of random, non-chronological snippets that are thematic, but definitely not plot-rich). It's hard to do well, but there's a chance you don't even need to have plot, so long as your stories are thematically connected. You could even consider turning your book into a series of short stories (or short memoirs) that are interconnected (so more like an anthology than a novel).

Of course, if you can come up with a plot that's cool too

 

[JAM2b]

Thanks so much for the encouragement guys.

 

[Haasrecht]

Most of the writing advice I have read or heard from successful authors suggests focusing on one thing. Stephen King refers to it as the 'going to work' part of writing. Even when not in the mood, sitting down and working on that project.

Just my two cents I have heard from authors. Cheers!

 

[JAM2b]

I've gotten quite a bit transferred from written notes, outlines, and story pieces to documents on my computer desktop, and separated by story.

I also have a friend who is an artist, and she has encouraged me to put my children's book back out there to see if anyone bites. She offered to do illustrations for me, but she is so busy and distracted that I don't think she will ever get around to it. Also, it is my understanding that publishers like to use their own artists anyway.

 

[rickyknight1]

Thanks so much for the encouragement guys.

I would say focus on which ever one is the strongest on your heart. I like to write as well, for me i just let whatever ever it is flow out onto paper [emoji4] . I just worry about the details later on.